The Merry Viscount by Sally MacKenzie

Caroline Anderson is on her way back from London after a failed attempt to sell the Home's Widow's Brew beer to a London tavern. In fact, she ended up having to ward off the gentleman from a rather amorous  attempt. Now she's on the stagecoach from hell with a judgmental pastor, a husband and wife who are REALLY annoying, and now a young mother with a six-year-old boy and a baby. Then two inebriated gentleman join the trip. And they decide to take over the reins and immediately drive the stagecoach into a ditch. To her astonishment, Caroline knows where they are, near the home of a man known as Lord Devil, a man who's nephew she played with when they were children. Only now the nephew has taken on the mantle as the Lord and he's holding a Christmas orgy at his house to spite his uncle's memory. However, the lord, Nick, isn't so inhuman that he'd turn people out into the cold so the entire stagecoach ends up at his house. He's astonished to recognize his childhood friend and even more astonished when she suggests that they pretend to be lovers.
Caroline has a really good reason for that-especially since her past was Not Good and she could use the dubious protection of a relationship with Nick but she soon realizes that a fake relationship might turn out to be real after all.
Like all MacKenzie books, this is a fast, fun, and fairly shallow read. Everything is wrapped up neatly without a lot of angst. The perfect book to read if you need something fluffy and light but I wish there had been a bit more character development.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out September 24th

Followed by Cheers to the Duke
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

A Wedding in December by Sarah Morgan

Maggie, Katie, and Rosie are all hiding things from each other. Maggie doesn't want to let her daughters know that she and their father are divorcing. Though grown (maybe especially because they're grown), Katie and Rosie have no idea that their parents' marriage is anything but stable. But it could also be that they are so involved in their own lives.
Katie is an ER doctor in an ER that is perpetually understaffed. A month ago, something happened. We don't know what it is for most of the book but it is causing her some severe issues with PTSD.
Rosie is the pivot around which the story revolves. She's twenty-three with a history of making impulsive (not always good) decisions. This time, it's to get married to Dan, a man from Colorado after dating him for three months. Her family, mostly looking forward to one last Christmas in their cottage in England, are aghast.
But, as will happen, on this trip the secrets will start to come out. And maybe, just maybe, that's not such a bad thing.
Another good book from Sarah Morgan. It did take me awhile to get into it and I never really connected with any of the characters but the story moves and the ending seemed realistic.

Three stars
This book comes out September 24th
ARC kindly provided by Harlequin and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Lavender & Mistletoe by Donna Kauffman

Avery Kent refers to herself as a Brain. It is her overall scope that allow her to figure out that there might be something more in the snow when she sees a set of tracks sliding across the road in a skid pattern. But she'll need more than that to rescue the pygmy goat she finds, she'll need a vet.
Ben Chandler is only in town to cover for the regular veterinarian who is traveling for a few months. He also has a big brain and is suitably impressed by Avery, even though she seems to be trying to steer him toward her friend, Cheyenne.
Eventually Avery and Ben end up pairing and finding that they really like each other. But what happens when Avery is tied to her place while Ben is a globe-trotting veterinarian?
This was a fine novella and regular Kauffman readers will enjoy. It was an easy romance but it's a novella so not a lot of development.

Three stars
This book comes out September 24th
ARC kindly provided by

A Dash of Christmas by Samantha Chase

Emery Monaghan's life sucks pretty hard right now. Her fiance, the senator, not only cheated on her, he did some pretty heinous things to a number of women. Rather than supporting her, her parents are aghast that she's not standing by her man. She just needs to get away for a little bit and escape the crazy. Eliza Montgomery provides her not only a place, but a project to do while she tries to figure out the rest of her life.
Carter Montgomery doesn't know that his mother has asked Emery to help him with the cookbook he's putting together for charity. Nor does he realize that Emery is going to be staying in their New York apartment. Neither brings him great joy since he's currently consumed with opening his fourth restaurant. Too bad he can't figure out what to do with it. But maybe meeting Emery again will help him make up his mind.
I really liked the story of Carter and Emery getting to know each other again. The book was just a little too long with a Big Misunderstanding manufactured to add another 150 pages that didn't really add much.

Three stars
This book comes out September 24th
Follows Suddenly Mine
ARC kindly provided by publisher and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Fake Date by Monica Murphy

Sarah Harrison works in an upscale lingerie boutique. Like, teddies that go for four hundred dollars upscale. So her customers have some money and therefore merit personalized attention. Her least favorite customer? Jared Gaines. He's ultra-rich and ultra-demanding. His attitude is that his time is valuable and no one else's is. Even worse, he's in about once a week buying things for his "friends." Until the day that he buys something and sends it to Sarah. And she's not having it. Except that it turns her on. She's raising her younger brother and sister so she doesn't have a lot of time for extras. And, while Jared is hot, he's not worth the trouble.

Except, Jared needs help. His brother is marrying Jared's ex-fiancee's sister. Awkward to say the least. So what can he do? Maybe bring a really hot date. And he already has his eye on the perfect woman.
I liked most of the story. Murphy did her best to bring a little more agency to Sarah and, while Jared was creepy, he acknowledges it and doesn't go full CG-creepy on Sarah. I am definitely looking forward to Jared's sister's story.

Three stars
This book comes out September 17th 2019

Follows Save the Date

Followed by Holidate
ARC kindly provided by Social Butterfly PR and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Vendetta in Death by J.D. Robb

This is an In Depth book where we know the identity of the killer is pretty early in the book. It's a woman who is bent on settling scores. She starts by picking up a man who, among certain circles, is known to be dropping date rape drugs into women's drinks, taking them home, and doing terrible things to them (very timely). The killer has labeled herself Lady Justice and plans her look to be the most appealing for every man that she is going to kill, the easier to lure them in.
Eve is on to her pretty quickly and I think that is part of my disconnect with this book. There was so much of Eve investigating that I never got the sense of killer as a person. I never really cared how/why  Eve was going to get her because we dived in so soon. It was a perfectly fine addition to the canon but not one of my faves.

Three stars
Followed by Golden in Death
This book came out September 3, 2019

Follows Connections in Death

Followed by Golden in Death
ARC kindly provided by Mamillan and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Reread August 2023 as audiobook from Libby

A Royal Christmas Wish by Lizzie Shane

Jenny is the prototypical romance heroine. She's clumsy; she doesn't know her own beauty (inner or outer); she has not one but two overachieving siblings; she believes in twu lurv; and she doesn't recognize someone who is arguably super-famous.
When she runs into Dominic, the prince of San Noelle (have we yet identified this as a Hallmark book? No? I'm guessing you did after this name), Jenny is just doing your normal thing you do in New York, walking her favorite rescue dog, Prince Harry (I like this author's sense of humor), in Central Park. Then, she slams into a super handsome guy. A guy that she later sees at a fancy party where she is dressed as an elf. She wishes that she could have gotten Dom's number but a lost snowflake bracelet leads to something almost as good, her wish to have a fairy tale Christmas is granted. It's a chance to see what her life would be like if she were actually married to Dom.  But she only has until midnight on Christmas.
This is just like a Hallmark movie, comforting and low-key. It didn't trip all my joy triggers but I finished it and, other than having to plow through all the generic romance tropes, enjoyed it.

Three and a half stars
This book came out September 10th
ARC kindly provided by Hallmark Publishing and NetGalley
Opinions are my own